GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Calling Garfield County the “epicenter of the battleground of Colorado,” Sen. Ken Salazar appeared before Barack Obama supporters to rally them to get out the vote on Friday.

Salazar joined former Gov. Roy Romer and state Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp as part of a three-day RV tour aimed at rural voters in small towns across the state. In a vehicle marked with the words “Colorado for Obama,” the Democratic presidential candidate’s representatives traveled from Sterling to Salida, from Gunnison to Grand Junction and to Glenwood Springs, rallying support among rural voters.

The stops marked the Obama campaign’s heightened interest in even small Colorado towns, as Colorado emerges as a key battleground state. Robert Kennedy Jr. is scheduled to appear in Aspen today. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is set to campaign for Obama in Rifle on Thursday. Obama appeared earlier in Grand Junction.

“Colorado is of the highest importance,” Salazar said in an interview. “The Western Slope is of the highest importance. You can tell from Sen. Obama’s campaign. He has 43 offices set up in the state of Colorado, including two here in Garfield County. That tells you how important the Western Slope is. We’re working it very hard. It’s going to be a close election.”

The Obama campaign has set up a field office in Glenwood Springs, it has another slated for Rifle, and it has a volunteer office in Carbondale in an effort to fan organizers across the county to rally voters.

Longtime local Democrats said they’ve never seen this kind of organization or interest in rural Colorado.

“I’ve been involved in local politics since 1978, and there’s never been anything close to this,” said Ed Sands, chairman of the Garfield County Democratic Party.

The Obama campaign has set up offices in some unlikely spots for Democrats, such as Brighton and Cortez. By contrast, the McCain campaign has 11 offices across the state. Those include Eagle and Grand Junction, but most are in more traditionally targeted metropolitan areas.

Democrats hope Obama’s grassroots strategy will help them win in places that seemed impossible for Democrats before and put him over the top in Colorado. They credit the strategy with helping Democrats outnumber Republicans in Eagle County for what might be the first time ever.

A recent Denver Post poll showed McCain and Obama tied at 44 percent in Colorado and in a dead heat on the Western Slope. That has the Obama campaign targeting the region.

“We are kind of a bull’s-eye,” Sands said.

McCain’s campaign has held no rallies here, although McCain has spoken at the Aspen Institute, appeared at private fund-raisers and met with the visiting Dalai Lama at a West End home.

Each with farming backgrounds, Romer, Salazar and Stulp touted Obama’s interest in rural America and his support for the Farm Bill, which McCain has consistently voted against, saying it contained subsidies to corporate farmers and trade barriers. They also criticized McCain’s opposition to bills that would increase funding for renewable energy.

Romer likened the Bush administration to a bad tenant farmer: “They’ve let the crops get some weeds in them and the wind blow the dirt away,” he said.

More than 60 supporters filled the former corner gas station turned campaign headquarters to rally for Obama.

“He’s inspired me,” said Glenwood Springs resident Doug Evans Betanco, a retired Colorado Mountain College professor who switched from independent to Democrat affiliation and shook Obama’s hand following his appearance in Grand Junction. “I did voter registration for the last two weeks and got 81 CMC students signed up to vote. It just inspired me.”

Evans Betanco figures he spends eight hours per day working for the campaign, between putting in time at the headquarters and blogging for Obama.

“Nobody has seen a team like this, but it isn’t brain surgery — it’s hard work,” said Kimberly Phillips, the Western Slope field organizer for the Democratic National Committee.

Phillips, of Rifle, came to the area about three years ago as part of DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy to boost Democratic wins across the country. She was the first Democratic field organizer there ever, she said, and it indicated the party’s switch from targeting metro areas to less populous areas.

“The Western Slope is really competitive ground for Democratic Party candidates,” she said.

Democrats think Obama has a chance to carry conservative Garfield County, thanks to voter drives and door-to-door volunteer efforts. They’re targeting the unaffiliated voters who dominate the county.

“I think we can make it close,” Sands said. “But you don’t have to win Rifle. You don’t have to win Garfield County. You have to win the state.”

dfrey@aspendailynews.com